There is a growing market demand for individual juice sacs of which the citrus fruit pulp is composed. The juice sacs are useful, inter alia, as additives to fruit juices and jams and may also be used as a convenience product, supply of the juice sacs obviating the necessity of a consumer having to peel the fruit in order to eat it.
In the case of pomellos grown in Israel, it has been found that as much as 35-40% of the annual crop may be unsuitable for marketing as fresh fruit. Moreover, pomellos are not sufficiently juicy for their juice to be extracted in commercially viable quantities and their peel is too tough to permit their use as animal fodder.
It would be useful, therefore, to be able to remove the juice sacs of which the fleshy part of the fruit is composed, so as to satisfy a growing demand therefor.
Described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,300,448 to Hayashi et al is apparatus for extracting pulp from citrus fruit, particularly mandarin oranges and tangerines. The apparatus employs a rotating pair of jets which cause a stream of pressurized fluid to impinge upon the interior of the fruit. The apparatus thus has only a single degree of rotational freedom, i.e., the jets rotate about a fixed axis.
The external configuration of a cut surface of a citrus fruit is generally irregular. The apparatus of Hayashi et al takes no account of this, and provides no means for ensuring that the streams of pressurized fluid impinge only on the fleshy interior of the fruit.
Disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,530,278 to Sarig et al is apparatus for mechanical separation of the seeds of pomegranates or similar produce including a gas jet directed on the portion of the produce to be separated for effecting the separation desired. The gas jet is operative to scan an exposed interior portion of the pomegranate so as to cause separation of the seeds of that portion. The scanning is effected, however, without regard to the external configuration of the fruit.
In the area of extracting juice from fruit, particularly citrus fruits, the extraction is most commonly achieved by crushing the fruit and thereafter draining the juice from the remainder of the fruit.
Among disadvantages of crushing fruit so as to obtain its juice, is that when the whole fruit is crushed, liquids are released not only from the fruit pulp, but also from the fruit peel which, particularly with citrus fruits, tends to be bitter tasting. A further disadvantage is that, in general, not all of the fruit juice is extracted by crushing the fruit.
The hereinbelow listed patents are representative of art pertaining to the area of fruit pulp extraction in general, and, in particular, to the extraction of the juice sacs and/or of the fruit juice. The patents are as follows:
U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,982,742; 3,518,093; 3,976,001; 4,078,481; 4,106,401; 4,125,064; 4,157,062; 4,183,293; 4,228,732; 4,301,719; 4,309,942; 4,309,943; 4,345,517; 4,350,087; 4,363,265; 4,376,409; 4,378,730; 4,393,760; 4,414,886; 4,421,021; 4,429,626; 4,440,074; 4,586,430; 4,614,153; 4,640,186; and 4,479,424; and
Israel Patents Nos. 17,138; 20,296; 22,409; 23,226; 23,237; 26,735; 27,544; 33,451; 44,719; 41,390; 42,715; 43,867; 45,151; 55,761; 55,852; 62,032; 64,762; 66,563; and 67,026.